i think it was mastercard spending pulse saying it actually not the fiscal cliff, it was superstorm sandy. >> right. adam: at the end. day are consumers pulling back? doesn't matter if it was the storm or fear they're pulling back, right. >> that was a real good point you made. mastercard said this these numbers were becoming a concern for the consumer back in october. the national retail federation had projected holiday sales would go up about 4.1%. adam: yep. >> that is some growth but it is nowhere near the 5.6% we saw lt year. there is a little bit of a slowdown. also we have to look at the consumer sentiment numbers. it is coming in at the month of december around 72 points. that is 10 points less than at its high in july. so we're definitely seeing that consumer slowdown happen even way before the fourth quarter. adam: you're with therf. you're with the national retail federation, are you not. >> no. i'm an independent analyst. adam: excuse me. a lot of people like the nrf but what are the repercussions whether for the nrf or anybody? nrf, they're sticking to it. they're not revisin